Golash-Boza Deported Analysis

Response Paper: Deported The division of the world into nations with distinct borders has long been accepted as the basis of a “civilized society”. In the book Deported, however, author Golash-Boza points to deep societal flaws in the ways in which the U.S has manifested this convention, questioning their civility. Her book records the lives of noncitizens in the U.S., documented and undocumented, whose journeys eventually ended in deportation. Through these journeys, she examines and critiques the U.S.’s racialized, gendered, and class-biased laws and structures which impact and/or seal many immigrants’ fates. In doing so, Golash-Boza poignantly portrays the complex humanity within the numbers, giving a human face to political debate.

While this results in a deeply emotional claim, these stories and statistics are presented with overt bias. This bias begins in her introduction, in which Golash-Boza uses existing research on the growth and the effects of neoliberalism. While this method is effective in providing a base for her claims, this base marks her claims as inherently biased through its charged rhetoric. This rhetoric includes statements such as, “insofar as neoliberalism diminishes opportunities and services for the poor, the state must ensure that working class and poor people do not pose a threat to the rich” (18). While Golash-Boza presents this intensely negative perspective of neoliberalism, the book does not include any other perspectives. This absence is problematic when discussing a deeply complex, deeply controversial subject. Opposed to Golash-Boza’s simplistic delineation, neoliberalism has been viewed from many angles. Some argue that free-market reforms “play an important role in real wages, job creation, and economic growth”, while others argue that “government regulations can become over bureaucratic and inefficient” (Pettinger). Some argue that neoliberalism is wonderful, some argue that it is horrible, and there are millions of perspectives in-between. As a result, because the topic of neoliberalism itself is so complex, if Golash-Boza is to found her entire argument on the negative perception of neoliberalism, it is vital that she justify this position in order to convince readers who disagree to still listen to her claims. By neglecting to show and overcome the counters to her perspective, Golash-Boza fails to truly justify her perspective, marking it as unfoundedly